Barbara Newman, a member of Athens-Limestone Beautification Board, places a wreath at Old Town Cemetery in Athens. (Contributed by Keep Athens Limestone Beautiful)

ATHENS, Alabama – Many of the delicate grave markers have cracked or broken in Old
Town Cemetery, the first burial ground in the City of Athens, but residents are
taking care to preserve them and remember those buried there.

The
cemetery on Washington Street contains the graves of many of the city's
earliest settlers, although some headstones have likely been lost to time.

Earlier
this month, members of the Athens-Limestone Beautification Board, a division of
Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful, placed wreaths on the graves in Old Town
Cemetery.

"The
Beautification Board took on this project for the first time in 2012 and has also
decorated the graves with flags on national holidays," said Lynne Hart,
executive coordinator of KALB.

The earliest burials in the cemetery were in the 1820s
and continued regularly though the mid-1800s. After additional cemeteries were
created, including Athens City Cemetery, occasional burials occurred until the
turn of the 20th century.

According to a historic marker at the site, trustees purchased
the entire block in 1827 for $10 from Robert Beaty and John Carriel, two of Athens'
founding citizens. At one time, there was a school on the property.

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